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Hamas Expected to Start Releasing 13 Women & Children; Former Israeli Ambassador to U.S. Weighs in on Deal; Snow Expected in Western U.S. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired November 24, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My special game ball, a year ago. You want that? You came back with (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

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[06:00:17]

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COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS: That is what it's all about. We have some more action on Black Friday, first ever for Amazon doing this today, Max. And they're doing little QR codes to put on the screen there so that you can shop and watch football on the same -- in the same feed. Good luck.

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: There you go. There are some Black Friday deals, and Coy found them for you. Thanks for this stuff.

Thanks for joining me. I'm Max Foster. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is breaking news.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. We're glad you are with us. We begin with the breaking news out of Israel.

Right now, a temporary truce is underway between Israel and Hamas. And just hours from now, the first round of hostages will be released. At 9 a.m. Eastern Time, Hamas is expected to start freeing 13 hostages abducted during the October 7th terror attacks.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And it's been roughly six hours now since that fighting was paused in Gaza. The truce, as of now, appears to be holding.

A column of Israeli tanks and armored vehicles was seen heading away from the Gaza Strip. Drone video shows families walking the streets of Khan Younis in Southern Gaza this morning after that truce began. You can see the destruction, as well, from the airstrikes around them. HARLOW: And part of this hostage deal was allowing desperately-needed

humanitarian aid into Gaza. This morning, we have been seeing those lines of trucks crossing in from Egypt.

An Egyptian official says 200 trucks full of food, water, medicine will enter daily. The first time we've seen that amount since the war began.

HILL: The Israeli military is making it clear here the war is not over, issuing in fact, a warning not to return to the North. And right now, of course, this agonizing wait for the families of hostages who don't know that their loved ones will be among the 50 women and children released.

HARLOW: President Biden says he has his fingers crossed that the youngest American hostage, Abigail Edan, will be among those released today. It is her fourth birthday today.

We have team coverage this morning from Doha to Tel Aviv to the West Bank, tracking all of these fast-moving developments.

And let's begin with Becky Anderson, who joins us in Doha. Becky, walk us through how the hostage release will go.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: And it was here that that deal was mediated, of course. Qatar absolutely central in getting this deal arranged and then across the line.

So where are we at? Well, we are now some hours into this truce. And despite the fact that over Gaza, we saw some activity, some smoke right at the beginning, the first minutes of this truce.

We see now nothing to suggest that there isn't anything but calm. So that is a good thing.

The second sort of time baked into this deal is 4 p.m. local time, which is 9 a.m. Eastern Time.

At some point after that time, the deal agrees that Hamas will organize for the release of the first 13 of the 50 hostages that it holds at present.

So at some point after 4 p.m. And look, you know, let's be quite clear. Things could slip.

Certainly, the truce was on sort of within minutes of the scheduled time. And that was 7 a.m. this morning, midnight Eastern Time.

But this -- this 9 a.m. Eastern Time scheduled start for the hostage release is a sort of movable feast, to a certain extent. So let's be quite clear about that.

There will be, agreed, 13 women and children released by Hamas into the hands of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent.

There is a proof of concept for this. Two sets of hostages have been released in the past 48 days: an American lady and her 17-year-old daughter, and two elderly civilians -- Israeli civilians.

So we know that there is a proof of concept. We know that this operation can work smoothly into the arms of the ICRC and then routed through Gaza. And as we understand it, whichever way is the easiest, and that will depend on where these hostages are, of course, through either the Egyptian border and then back into Israel to the South, or through possibly the Arretz (ph) or one of the borders, the -- the crossing in Israel.

So that's how things are supposed to work.

This is four days, 13 hostages on the first day. 50 by day 4. And if Hamas -- this goes smoothly and Hamas is willing to release another 10 per day, this truce will be extended by an additional day for every 10 hostages.

That is where we stand today. This is the biggest diplomatic breakthrough since this conflict began. This has been a tough negotiation, but we are where we are.

This is, everybody hopes, just the beginning, of course.

CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward joining us from Shahida Hospital, children's hospital in Petah Tikva, where as I understand it, Clarissa, child hostages may arrive after their release. What are you seeing and hearing there?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So this is one of five designated hospitals, Becky, where, if everything goes smoothly -- and as you mentioned, there are a lot of moving parts to this. People don't want to get their hopes up too much, but this is the hospital where most of the children, provided they don't have very serious life-threatening injuries or any kind of medical condition that's very serious, will actually be reunited with their families.

The first step, as you mentioned, the Red Cross will take possession of the hostages from Hamas. They will then be handed over to the IDF.

The IDF will conduct a search first to make sure that they are who they are supposed to be, identify them. They will carry out a brief medical check to make sure what condition they are in. They will then allow them to have a video or voice call with family members.

Now the IDF has been given pretty sort of comprehensive guidelines from the Israeli Ministry of Welfare, telling them basically how they should try to deal with these young hostages, many of whom have no idea what has happened to their family members. Obviously, they have experienced a real trauma.

And so they issued these guidelines. I want to read to you one part of the guidelines that they've been given. They're told, "Children will ask questions such as 'Where's Mom? Where's Daddy?' Soldiers should not answer these questions, even if they know the answers. Any questions should be answered along the lines of 'Sweetheart, I'm sorry, I don't know. My job is to bring you to Israel to a safe place where people you know will be waiting for you and will answer your questions.'"

They've also been told not to pick up the children without asking their permission.

And after those first medical and identity checks, those children and women, those hostages will be flown to one of five sites. This, as you mentioned, the Schneider Medical Center for Children. We have been talking to some of the staff inside, Becky.

And as you can imagine, they are trying not to get their hopes up too much, but they are incredibly excited. They are very nervous. They told us they have not been sleeping. And they are doing everything they can to ensure that they have the warmest, calmest, safest welcome possible back to their homes -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Clarissa Ward, thank you.

Let's bring in Oren Liebermann now. He is in Tel Aviv. Overnight, the IDF said it destroyed tunnels in Al-Shifa, and CNN heard continued loud booms right up to and just through the beginning of this truce.

What's the current state of this pause?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're right that just a few minutes after the truce was supposed to go into effect at 7 a.m. this morning, our team right in the Gaza border heard some continued artillery fire until right about 7:18.

There was even a red alert at about 7:16 warning of potential incoming rocket fire from Gaza.

So the truce didn't take effect exactly when it was supposed to, but only several minutes after that, by 7:20, there have been no reports of major fighting for the first time in nearly seven weeks at this point.

So the truce, which is the critical first stage of this, went into effect even a few minutes after it was supposed to, but critically, it went into effect.

And that, as you pointed out, is part of a meticulous series of events that's supposed to play out to get to about three hours from now when we are supposed to see the first release of Israeli women and children under this agreement.

It's also crucial to know that we saw what is effectively the second stage chronologically of this agreement, and that is humanitarian aid trucks going into Gaza. Israelis said it included food and cooking oil. It is still only a fraction of what's needed, given the dire humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Gaza Strip.

[06:10:08]

But from our perspective, it is part of the agreement as this plays out. Now we did just get some imagery from the IDF in terms of how they're

preparing to take in these children and begin the process of getting them to Israel, the hospitals, and then to their family.

It showed a picture of the helicopter that would be used. There are, essentially, noise-canceling headphones that are designed to play a calming noise for the children, to keep them as calm as possible as they bring them in.

Clarissa there talked about the conversations they are allowed to have as these children don't necessarily know what has unfolded here on October 7th and may not have any idea of the scope of the attack on that day.

And then they also released pictures of what appeared to be an intake center for the children that showed toys, pillows, games set up for them to try to make this process as easy as possible, even though, of course, after what they have been through, the trauma they have been through, the -- the process of trying to reacclimate them and bring them back in is, in and of itself, an incredible challenge, but one that hopefully begins to play out here soon the next few hours.

ANDERSON: The IDF issuing a warning, meantime, for Palestinians, people in Southern Gaza, not to move North. For many of those who are in Southern Gaza, they just want to find out what's happened back home. They've been displaced into the South.

What's -- what are they saying? And is the IDF, as we understand it, actively preventing anybody moving North, or just suggesting aggressively that they don't, as it were?

LIEBERMANN: Well, there is certainly the suggesting we saw the IDF's Arabic language spokesman give a warning, saying the North is still an active war zone. Do not go North.

We don't know yet. We don't have concrete reporting right now on what measures the IDF has taken to make sure people don't go from South to North. We are trying to lock that down, and we'll have that as soon as -- as soon as we have it reportable.

But that's the IDF's perspective, is that the North remains an active war zone even with the pause in the fighting.

Of course, nearly 80 percent of Gazans are displaced, so you can see how they would want a pause in the fighting, which certainly they recognize, even if they don't know specifics of the agreement.

They would want to go back home and see if there is anything left of their home. But the IDF actively warning them not to do that right now. And it doesn't look like they'll be allowed to do that any time over the pause of this fighting, because both the IDF and Hamas have said, Look, there may be a pause here, but this is still an active war. And that war will resume when this agreement runs its course.

ANDERSON: Oren Liebermann, thank you. Poppy, Erica, that's as we understand things now. And in the next few hours, up to and through that point at which we hope to hear before we see that the first 13 of these hostages being held by Hamas have actually been released.

Back to you guys.

HILL: Becky, thank you.

Well, this four-day pause in fighting, as we've just run through, has begun. The hostages and prisoners expected to release in the coming hours.

We're going to dig a little deeper into what happens when this pause expires. We'll be joined by the former Israeli ambassador to the U.S.

HARLOW: Also right now, fuel and aid trucks have entered Gaza. You see it happening right there. They are filled with desperately needed supplies. Where does the humanitarian effort stand in all of this? Next.

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[06:17:17]

HARLOW: You are looking at live pictures of what is hundreds of trucks that are going to come from Egypt through the Rafah crossing into Gaza with much-needed humanitarian aid.

This is all part of the truce to release these hostages. Thirteen of them from Hamas into Israel. And that is set to begin just hours from now after more than six weeks in captivity with more to come in the days ahead, if this truce holds.

Joining us now is former Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren.

Ambassador, thank you very much for your time. You have been concerned, and you have said that you fear that Hamas may exploit this deal. Do you think it wasn't worth it?

MICHAEL OREN, FORMER ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: I can't say it's not worth it. It's not, you know, and/or. It's yes, I think the deal is worth it, but Hamas might exploit the deal.

And keep in mind, that's why the Israeli families have been totally informed about who's on the list, because the list could change. Hamas is not just a terrorist organization that attacks us physically. It attacks us emotionally, as well. And it's -- it's playing with the emotions of the Israelis, particularly of these poor families.

So to the last minute, until the hostages are actually released in the hands of their loved ones, no one is going to actually make a positive, positive statement about the -- about the identity.

So it's -- we've got to be very, very careful. One thing they will exploit. They will exploit the ceasefire. Hamas will exploit the ceasefire to move terrorists from the South and the North into the South, where they're embedded among the refugees.

They will use it to booby-trap further all of Gaza and move equipment around, and which will cost us, ultimately, in terms of our soldiers' lives.

It was a terrible decision that the Israeli government had to make. It's hostage life versus soldier life. And -- and that's apart from the strategic difficulty of resuming the fighting once the ceasefire ends.

HILL: There is concern about what that will look like when the fighting does resume, which Prime Minister Netanyahu has said it absolutely will. I want to play for you what former Israeli defense -- deputy defense minister Danny Danon had to say specifically about that. Take a listen.

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DANNY DANON, FORMER ISRAELI DEPUTY DEFENSE MINISTER: We are paying a price, because we had a very strong momentum of the military. But I can assure you, we will continue with the military operation. We are not going to stop. It's only the beginning.

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HILL: There's a concern about momentum and logistics. There's also a concern about broad support, especially globally and what the impact could be. How much is that a factor for you as you watch this?

OREN: It's going to be a huge factor. You know, the IDF needs time and space to act. And at a certain point, they'll also probably need some resupply of ammunition.

[06:20:02]

But having said all that -- and I can't stress this enough -- a ceasefire ultimately means -- for Israel, it means kind of like a death.

First of all, it means Hamas gets away with mass murder. It means Hamas will come back. Their leaders have said that they don't care how much they lose. They're going to come back and fight us again and again and again.

Israel itself has 250,000 displaced people, who can't go back to their homes. We won't have internal security and -- in the region, countries like Iran will internalize they can strike Israel with impunity. But when they tries to defend itself, it will be slapped with a ceasefire.

So we actually can't survive in that region, the Middle East, without that -- without continuing the fight against Hamas. Extremely difficult, but Israel really has no choice.

HARLOW: What kind of concessions going forward do you think, Ambassador, would be most prudent for Israel to make? This deal is essentially 3 for 1. Like, three Palestinian prisoners for one Israeli hostage.

Is that what it should be going forward? Should Israel be willing to go further if Hamas demands? Because you know, we heard Bibi yesterday promise to bring everyone home.

OREN: It's -- it's quite a promise. Here's the -- sort of the algorithm, if you will, of the whole thing. Nothing would have happened, this whole deal wouldn't have happened if Israel hadn't gone in on the ground in Gaza and began to squeeze Hamas.

Hamas is under great duress right now.

You know, Hamas has been underground for six weeks now. And they -- they don't really come out and fight. Their terrorists will come out and fire an RPG or an anti-tank missile at our troops. Then they go back down into those 300 miles of tunnels underneath.

So Hamas is in a difficult situation. The more Israel applies the pressure, I think Hamas will be more in a position to negotiate. And whether it's the form of of three, you know, Palestinian terrorist prisoners for one hostage, will that continue? More or less. Keep in mind, you know, when we released Gilad Shalit -- this is now a decade ago -- an Israeli soldier who was kept for five years in -- as a hostage in Gaza, Israel released over 1,000 terrorists --

HARLOW: Yes.

OREN: -- in return for one soldier. I hate this; it sounds very cynical. But the price has gone down. The price goes down, because Hamas is not --

HARLOW: Well, isn't it also -- but Ambassador, isn't it also a question of who is being released? Because among those 1,027 prisoners released for Gilad Shalit, was Yahya Sinwar, who is now head of Hamas. So the question is --

(CROSSTALK)

OREN: No question. I think that just sort of make -- that sort of sharpens my point, is that who's being released?

Back then, these were actual terrorists with blood on their hands. Right now, among those being released by -- by Israel are not people who actually committed murder. They may have been an accessory to murder, but they're not -- they're not actual murderers themselves.

That's very important, because in Israeli society, you have to go to those families of those victims and say, Listen, the person who killed your loved one is getting out of jail. It's very difficult.

But here's the bottom line. The bottom line is the end of the day, Hamas will not release all the prisoners, because the prisoners are their "Get Out of Gaza Free" card.

And -- and they know that they release all the prisoners, all the hostages, Israel will flood the tunnels and basically kill Hamas.

So there may be a deal out there, similar to that which the PLO reached with Israel in 1982 in Beirut. I was there. And the idea is PLO evacuated their armed ships to -- they went to Tunis. Made another deal out there down the line where Hamas will say, OK, here are the rest of the hostages. Let us get out of here. And we'll got to Algeria or something.

And I think this -- I'm not saying -- I'm not representing the state of Israel, but I would think that Israel, the majority of Israelis would go for that deal.

HARLOW: Ambassador Michael Oren, thank you very much for joining us this morning. Big, big day ahead.

OREN: Thank you. Good day. Thank you.

HARLOW: And our coverage of this expected hostage release and the pause in fighting will continue throughout the morning. Stay right here with us.

HILL: We are also watching Black Friday here in the U.S., already underway. And Americans already spending. This is how much they're spending, actually, this moment. So we're going to take a closer look at that spending and where you might be able the to find a deal this year.

First, though, let's get a check of the weather with Allison Chinchar in the CNN weather center.

Allison, good morning.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And good morning. Yes, if you're standing out in lines, you may have to be bundled up in certain portions of the country. Mainly in the Western half.

We've got some snow showers and rain across portions of Utah, Colorado, stretching down into Arizona and New Mexico. It's also followed by some cold air.

So as this system makes its way off to the East, it's going to spread that snow across the Central Plains and eventually in the Midwest, from Kansas City all the way to Chicago by the time we wrap up the rest of this weekend.

So you've some pretty decent snowfall totals here. Obviously, the highest amounts are going to be in those higher elevations, where well over a foot can be expected.

But the cold air, however, is going to start to spread its way into the Midwest, as well as the Northeast.

We'll be right back after the break.

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[06:29:23]

ANDERSON: Well, just in, a source tells CNN that all hostages released from Gaza back into Israel will receive special noise-cancelling headphones to provide peace and quiet during the helicopter flight out of Gaza.

Each helicopter will have a medical team, including a commander, three combat soldiers, and two doctors.

This is for the 13 who will be released by Hamas today, or at least that is the plan.

Meanwhile, 39 Palestinians held in Israeli jails are expected to be released at some point today, as well.

CNN's Nada Bashir joins us from Baytouna in the.